Silent Hill: Shadows
by StarStealer
Summary: Silent Hill may hold the keys to unlocking some doors for some people but for one woman named Leah, they may be doors she'd prefer to keep locked.
1. A Late Night Drive

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter One: **A Late Night Drive**

Leah Myers ran a hand over her tired, sleep ridden eyes. It had been a long night and one that she had wanted to forget entirely. She checked her rearview mirror, scanning the road for any other late night drivers aside from herself. There was nobody. Just herself, the road and her old, pale green junker of a car. She nervously drummed her fingertips on the steering wheel, trying in vain to not think back to the events that had led her to take such a spontaneous outing.

            She checked the rearview again and again saw nothing but the road disappearing into blackness as she drove. She glanced at her reflection, not really interested. It hadn't changed. Staring back at her were the same sad, jaded, hazel eyes that she woke up to every morning when she looked in the bathroom mirror. Eyes sometimes hidden behind her mop of brown curly hair. 

            Her mind began to wander and slowly, like a connection as the memories formed, tears sprang to her eyes. She wiped at her eyes, one hand still on the wheel and shook her head. 

            "_No…the whole point of taking a drive at two in the morning is to get your mind OFF of what's troubling you. Forget it…_" she chided herself mentally. 

            Her fingers went to push a tape into the old cassette player that was begging to be updated with an in car CD player. Her fingers met nothing and she softly cursed under her breath, settling for the radio as her fingers turned the dial.

            "We the righteous, commend the Almighty – "

            "No," she muttered. 

            "Rich cream saturated in conditioners so your hair actually gets –"

            The next channel boasted static and the one after a soft, melancholy jazz that did nothing for her mood. "Damnit…" she hissed, casually turning through a few more channels as the pools of tears in her eyes grew.

            "Blue is the color of the red sky. Will he, will he come home tonight?"

            Finally the tears broke free and spilled down her cheeks. A ragged groan of anguish ripped from her mouth and her vision blurred from her tears.

            "Blue is the color that she feels inside."

            Furiously, she wiped a hand at her eyes trying to rid herself of the tears. "Shut up…I don't wanna think. Don't wanna think!"

            "Matador, I can't hide my fear anymore," the sultry voice sang.

            Leah wiped at her eyes once more and looked back to the road in time to see a dark figure run across on all fours. She didn't have time to think of what animal it could possibly be. On instinct she swerved the car and felt the road disappear from beneath the car.

            Her hands gripped the steering wheel, white knuckled, and her thoughts went blank in terror. She _was_ going to die, pure and simple. 

            Past the car flew branches that made terrible sounds as they raked past. Ahead of her were flashes of black and green. Beneath her she could feel every violent, tossing bump the car hit, proof that this was no dream. Finally she clenched her eyes and pressed her foot to the break in a vain attempt to perhaps ease the impact of whatever tree she would inevitably collide with. 

            The car hit the bottom and before Leah could think anymore thoughts of how painful her death would be, she blacked out. 

            ***

            Lyrics repeated themselves in her head like a tape stuck on repeat. "_I can't hide my fear anymore…_"

            Leah slowly opened her eyes and winced. Her head pounded as though a jackhammer had been set loose inside her skull. She lay face down, feeling soft, cool dirt beneath her palms and against her mouth. On her lip something stung with pain. She gingerly licked her lips and winced again. The familiar taste of blood made her realize that the stinging sensation was where a good-sized gash had fixed itself upon her lip. 

            She forced herself to sit up, moving slowly enough to accommodate her raging headache. All around her was forest. Tall, looming trees, of what species she didn't know, as far as the eye could see. She glanced over her shoulder and groaned. Behind her, in a nice crunched heap was her car, still smoking from it's fresh tumble down the hill. Slowly, she forced herself to stand though her legs felt like jelly. She swallowed a lump of anxiety in her throat, as she looked her car over then softly cursed. Granted she _was _lucky to be alive but the sight of her smashed of car put her in no better spirits.

            "How the hell am I getting home…?" she said softly to herself, hearing her own nervousness in those words. Then like a jolt of electricity it struck her: She didn't even know where home was. Leah stumbled back in confusion and felt her legs give way and she fell to the ground. Just where in the hell _was_ her home and why had she been out driving? She gave a quick glance to the sky and realized that it was late, not exactly the greatest time for a joy ride. O why had she been out and about?

            Her thoughts were shattered glass and there was no picking up the pieces and putting them together again. She carefully lined up the events she had managed to remember but nothing seemed to make sense. She remembered driving and hearing some sappy-sad song and then the accident, but the reason why she had been out so late had just vanished like smoke from the air. Again she tried to remember. "_Driving, song, something in front of the car, crash… _" 

            The last memory of the something running out in front of her car suddenly made her anxiety jump a level. Just what the hell had run in front of her car? It had been as big as a deer, but at the same, brief moment she had seen it, she had known it sure as hell was no deer. It had almost looked like a human…running on four legs. 

            Crunch.

            Leah turned her head to the source of the sound. 

            Like a ghost coming out the dark, a little girl walked out from a path in the woods, which Leah could've sworn had not been there before. The girl stopped looking just as alarmed as Leah felt. Silence ensued.

            Finally Leah found her power to speak. "…Uh, hi. I-I've been in an accident. Do you have anyone with you who can call for help?"

            The little girl just stared. She was too far away for Leah to make out the color of her eyes, but her face was small and framed with short cropped, straight brown hair. She was adorned with a pink t-shirt and little, blue jeans. Leah stood once more and tried to walk closer. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to scare you, I just-" 

What? What was she going to tell the girl? "I just managed to crash my car and lose my memory all in one night!"?

            Suddenly the little girl tensed and her eyes widened. Leah felt her feet freeze in their tracks. The girl was staring at Leah as though she were the devil incarnate. Leah forced a smile. She felt an intense feeling of aggravation and got the impression that she had never much cared for kids. "Look, sweetie, I just need some help so if you can go and get an adult…" she hinted, trying to sound as sweet as possible after just walking away from a near death experience.

            The girl looked at her for a long moment and Leah threw her arms up, wincing as her headache throbbed violently to remind her it was still present. "Great…" she murmured, looking back to her car. 

            Crunch, crunch, crunch. 

            Leah turned to look back at the girl but she was gone. "Hey!" Leah cried and took off after the girl as fast as her legs would allow, leaving her car and her memories far behind and not even exactly sure why.

A/n: Just for those who're wondering and for copyright's sake, I did not write those lyrics from the song Leah was listening to on the radio. They're from a song of Sade's called, "Fear." Please RnR. Thanks.


	2. Dan Russell

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Two: **Dan Russell**

"Wait!" Leah called out, following the small crunching footsteps of the small girl she had seen only moments earlier. After a minute of running, Leah was forced to slowdown and catch her breath. Her situation had gone from bad to worse in only a mere matter of minutes.

            Leah closed her eyes, trying to fend off the raging waves of pain that kept crashing against her skull from the headache she had been suffering. From here, she had two clear options. She could go back to her wreck of a car and wait and pray that maybe someone would come by. She could maybe try and make it up to the road and wait by herself.

            Or, she could try and follow the path that seemed to lead through the woods in hopes that she'd find the girl and maybe some other adults. Adults who had a home with a working phone. 

            Leah looked up ahead, still panting a little and squinted. The forest around her was pitch black. In fact it was the perfect setting for some animal to jump out and scare the hell out of her. Or for the thing from the road to return…

            "Knock it off," she scolded herself, feeling a cold shiver run down her spine from the thought. "It was probably just a dog…" she reasoned then caught sight of what she had been straining to see. Further ahead, much further, was a faint glow. Leah sucked in a breath of piney air and held it, saying a silent prayer that it was a flashlight and further more that it wouldn't go out before she could reach it.

            Mentally she urged her legs to move and began a steady jog towards the light, her only beacon of hope at the moment.

            She only paused once during her jog to listen attentively to a faint shuffle in the trees. She heard it a few more times and forced herself to keep moving. "_Keep moving…keep moving. It's only an animal…keep moving…_"she thought and kept running. The shuffling and snapping of twigs only grew more frenzied as she ran and as they grew Leah felt her legs move faster.

            "Mmmrr…" 

            A moan. 

Hard to hear but Leah had been sure it had been a moan and she knew of no animal that actually moaned. "_Oh god…it's following me…_"

            Her mind did the rest for what her eyes could not see. In her head she had terrifying visions of some sick madman, following her. Watching her…

            Perhaps it was some old hermit who hunted people for fun. 

            All were thoughts that propelled her to move all the more quickly. By now she was in a full on run for her life. The rustling was following her. It was all around her and Leah heard her breath exploding from her mouth in gasps as she struggled to run until…

            All at once she had reached the source of the light. Her feet skidded to a stop, drawing up a very small cloud of dust and what she saw perplexed her and horrified her all at once. 

            Before her, built into a small little alcove and surrounded by trees was quite clearly some sort of mini altar. Candles were set out around its square perimeter and lit. On it were two candles on each side and in the middle was a clear, red symbol. Leah approached it though her mind screamed at her to keep away. "…Who in the hell…"

            The flames danced in the cool night's breeze but Leah's gaze was fixed upon the symbol. It almost seemed to glow with life though it was only slathered on by cheap paint rather than blood as she had first feared. She curled a lip and backed away, shaking her head. "Sick…" she whispered and sick was how it made her feel. Just looking at the symbol gave her a queasy feeling. Like she was looking at something that was diseased and not to be touched.

            She turned around, now even more nervous and afraid that perhaps whatever was out in the woods was the person who had put this altar here. Visions of axe happy wood dwellers and religious zealot cannibals danced through her imagination. Then she saw something she had not before: A tent.

            Leah walked over almost positive that no one was inside for the tent itself looked older than anything she'd seen so far. She lightly kicked it as she passed and listened for any sound at all, if indeed someone had been taking residence. Silence followed and she was grateful to hear that even the rustling sounds from the woods had ceased for the time being. Her ease was short lived as it occurred to her that silence might not have entirely been a good thing. She swallowed and stepped around to the front of the tent. She kneeled down to get a better look inside and her knee brushed against something hard: A solid metal flashlight.

            "Yes…" Leah whispered and almost could've screamed with joy, had she not been fearful that screaming would provoke whatever had been in the woods. Her hands seized the flashlight and shifted the small white switch so that it was on. By some miracle, it flickered once then came to life and shined a good-sized beam of bright light directly into the tent. Inside, as she had suspected, was no one and nothing except a stick and an old, ragged sheet of paper. She grabbed both and looked at the stick quixotically. The end was sharpened to a point, almost like a spear and etched into the bark was one word: "Henry."

            "Henry…?" she asked aloud then picked up the sheet of paper, reading aloud. 

            "I won'T sHut up! I won't! ThEY may have exiled me, but you WaIt and watch! Everyone want to cLam up about it now! They want to wiLl it awAy. But I know better. I wiLL stay right here anD you'll stay wIth mE Henry. My frienD…we'll show them what happens when you abandon your belIEfs. Just me and you…Henry…we'll show them ."

            Leah stared at the note for a long moment then grimaced. She almost felt tempted to just throw the stick away but as things stood it was her only means of defending herself and it'd come in handy if something _did_ happen to make an appearance. She gave a little sigh of uneasiness and let the note drift to the ground. She gave one glance back to the altar and decided that she'd take her chance on the woods rather than stay and wait for the person who created the altar (maybe Henry's "friend") to return. With that she jogged off, back onto the path from which she had come.

            Minutes passed like seconds and before she knew it, Leah had resigned herself to just being lost. The path she had taken had not led her back to the car and no car meant no clear indication of which way the road was. Leah cursed and kicked a tree, feeling all of her frustration come to a head. How had this happened? The path hadn't split the first time she'd followed it. It was a clear straightforward path from the car to the little altar sight. So how had this happened? 

Leah grit her teeth and groaned, clenching her eyes shut. She hadn't asked to lose her memories and she hadn't asked to be left alone, lost, with only a stick named Henry as her defense. The whole hopelessness of the situation made her want to curl up and cry. She leaned her forehead against a tree and gave a little moan, dropping Henry against the tree and clutching her flashlight. "Maybe I'm dreaming…maybe this is all a bad dream and I'll wake up," she said softly, her head pounding with the remnants of her headache as she spoke. She winced and put a hand to her face, backing away from the tree. 

            It was then that something caught her eye. In the distance shone a bright, white light. Not the same faint glow from the altar sight before. This was a bright light.

            Leah felt her heart jump a little in joy but then felt the familiar ball of dread drop into her stomach. "Light or no light. Remember the nice little surprise waiting for you the last time you saw a light?" she thought, remembering the eerie sight of the tent and altar. 

            "Well…at least I have you Henry…" she said, smirking a bit then suddenly shook her head to clear her thoughts. "What am I saying…? I'm starting to sound like that nut in the letter," she said on second thought and just picked up the stick, heading towards the second light with a renewed hope. 

            "I wouldn't go that way unless you're absolutely sure…"

            Leah felt her heart stop and her reflexes kicked in faster than she would've ever thought possible. In half a moment's time, her flashlight was shining on a young man. He looked at her calmly though there was a faint gleam of suspicion in his eyes. He was fairly young, maybe no older than herself, but he was taller than she was by at least a foot. His hair hung in his face and he made no move to brush it away. It was a light sandy brown, almost the color of caramel. Leah wondered how long he'd been standing there.

            "W-who are you? Are you who was following me in the woods?!"

            "Relax. I came … from town you could say…" he said, pointing in the direction of the light. Leah followed to where he was pointing then drew her attention right back to him. 

"You said 'town.' You mean there's a town…right over there?" she asked incredulously, almost unwilling to believe her luck. The young man nodded. "Yeah. That's what I said, are you deaf or something?"

Leah narrowed her eyes. "Look…I've just been thr-"

"I mean what I said. _Don't_ go there unless you're _absolutely_ sure," he interrupted and stepped closer. Leah didn't move but her hand tightened instinctively around Henry. "What do you mean by that…?"

The young man stopped and looked to his side, casting his gaze downward to the ground. Leah's eyes widened as the evident dawned on her. She thrust the stick forward and glared. "You! Were you the one who set up that sick little altar back there?!" she spat, gesturing behind Dan with the stick.

"Altar? No…" he answered, without hesitation. 

"Well then who did…?" 

The young man shrugged. "I don't know, but whatever altar you saw? Take that as a warning." 

Lean tilted her head, genuinely confused and not entirely comforted by his answer. "Warning?"

"Look, this town over there…? You're not the first person to come here. Something is wrong with this town! People come here and they're lost here."

"Lost-?!"

"You'll be lost too if you aren't careful…" he said, giving her a sad, almost pleading look. "I don't want to see something like that happen to you…"

Leah stared at him for a long moment then shook her head. "Look, how do you know all this?! I mean who the hell are you?!"

"My name's Dan Russell."

Leah nodded, trying to clear her head, then leaned the stick against her leg and held her hands up as a calming gesture. She spoke softly. "Okay, Dan, how do you know all this? Do you live here?" she asked, trying to get clear answers.

Dan shook his head, confirming his answer. "No, but I just…know…"

For a moment their eyes locked and the look that Leah found there made her want to turn away. "_Something is wrong with this town! _" his words resonated within her head. Leah turned to look back towards the light and stared at it, her mind going blank. She heard Dan's words but didn't turn to look at him.

"If you must go, follow the path ahead of you. You'll find your answers there but they may not be answers you want…"

Leah took drew in a small breath before softly asking, "How…do…you know…?" 

A gentle silence ensued except for the chirping of a few crickets she had not noticed before. Leah turned to Dan only to find him gone. "Dan…?"

Leah felt her heart sink. A very small part of her had hoped he would stay and accompany her so she wouldn't have to be alone. ESPECIALLY if what he had said about this town was true. The idea alone scared her. Suddenly she found she didn't want to follow that light. She wanted to find her car and go back to the road. At least there she'd stand the chance of someone possibly driving by. Here she was completely alone.

"No…" she thought to herself and she didn't know why. Things had led her here. Both the little girl and Dan. They sure as hell weren't apart of her imagination, so just who were they? 

She felt her legs begin to move in a sort of timid shuffle. Whatever the answers, she had a sinking feeling that Dan was going to be right. She'd find them in the town ahead of her.

A/N: Just for reference Leah is 20. Also see if you can find the hidden message in the note. I'll give kudos to those who can figure it out without a hint (which I'll put in the next chapter). 


	3. A Trip To Town

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Three: **A Trip to Town**

            One foot in front of the other: slow steps.

            Leah Myers kept her eyes on the path ahead of her as it gently curved around, leading towards the soft glow of what could now be seen as a streetlight. She felt the dirt sink ever so slightly beneath her feet while eliciting small crunches from twigs and leaves. Leah kept her flashlight fixed straight ahead and her body moved quickly with her muscles tensed. Things had just been too weird for one night.

            "Ghosts…" she muttered just speaking to herself though not really paying much attention but rather rambling off ideas just to keep herself sane. "Maybe…they were ghosts…"

            Then another thought struck her. "Maybe I'm still unconscious. Maybe this is one big messed up dream and next I'll be in an amusement park with cute little bunny mascots," she chuckled to herself but at the same time apart of her questioned that theory. Wasn't that certainly a possibility? 

            After a couple of minutes of walking Leah's feet came to a soft halt and she looked at the sight in front of her. "Strange," she whispered softly.

            To her immediate left was a streetlight that glowed a ghostly white; the light she had seen back in the woods. In front of her was a street that led forward for a few yards before connecting to a three-way intersection. She squinted with only the glow and very faint hum of the streetlight to aid her. The chirp of the woodland crickets had died out.

Ahead were various shops and Leah could just barely make out a few names. "Regan's Drugs? Flowers by Sadako," she read softly and began to walk forward before pausing. Leah stopped to look over her shoulder and back to the woods. Behind her stood the pitch-blackness enveloped by overly tall tress. It struck her as odd how the forest and the town street just seemed to meet. It looked like two halves put together in the wrong place. One side was forest then suddenly the town.

            She then glanced back to the town. Ahead were darker streets with stop signs and traffic lights but no cars to be seen. No visible human life walking about. A faint fog danced along the pavement of the street. Behind her was the forest with the altar, countless things that went bump in the night and somewhere, her car and the road out.

            Leah cast her eyes downward and closed them in a small attempt to try and calm down. Half of her wanted to run back into the woods and start screaming for Dan or for _anyone_ to hear her. That part _wanted_ to face what was in the woods, camp at the tent near the altar, do _anything _but go into the town that lie ahead of her. That part knew that people shouldn't be walking around in the woods at late night, however it also knew that people _should_ still be present in a town, no matter how small. 

            A light in a window or maybe a shop that was open for late night callers would've all been signs of some sort of life. "_Hell…_" she thought. "_Even the traffic lights should still work, but they don't. _" Her eyes drew back to the familiar red, green and yellow lights that hung above the town. They were as dark as a moonless night. Leah felt her chest heave with an intense fear and at her side, the hand clutching Henry began to tremble ever so slightly.

            "I don't want to be alone here…" she moaned softly, clenching her eyes shut. "I didn't _do_ anything to deserve this…"

            "_Or maybe I did…_ " A thought interrupted. 

            Leah slowly opened her eyes as if the truth had just pummeled her. What if she HAD done something wrong? What if this town had been her destination? How could she remember the answer to those questions with no memory?

 "_There's too many questions…_" she thought miserably and then looked back to the lonesome street ahead of her. "_Too many questions and there's certainly too many reasons to not go into that town, but somehow…that Dan guy is right. I wouldn't be standing here if the answers didn't lie ahead of me,_ " she rationalized. Something in this town was calling her. It was holding the answers in front of her. All she had to do was step forward.

Slowly her feet moved and she felt her gut clench along with her hand around the spear-like stick. Her eyes drifted to her right were up against an old, sandy brown wood paneled fence sat a dirty green sign. "Silent Hill Forest Hike Trail," it read with a chunky white arrow pointing towards the woods. 

"Silent Hill…" Leah murmured. "_So the answers lie in Silent Hill…_"

It was as though someone had slung a rope out and lassoed her around the waist. Slowly she was being pulled in. Her legs moved forward but not with her conscious mind controlling them.

Leah wasn't sure how much time had passed but she was almost certain that it had been very little before she found herself at the middle of the intersection.  She was faced with four choices of which way to go. She scanned each direction but nothing looked helpful or even hinting. "Well…I can't go back…" she said softly only to herself and barren streets. 

A soft gleam of something caught her eye and she jogged over to the drugstore she had seen from near the forest's edge. As she approached she instinctively drew the stick up closer, readying it just in case. Her eyes already had begun to scan the store windows for any signs of life but to no avail. The shop itself looked as empty and lifeless as the rest of the town. 

The windows were unwashed and dirt clung to certain spots on the fine glass. They looked more like age spots to Leah. Inside she could faintly see aisles of medicinal goods and some old signs advertising certain products.  She stepped over to the door and hooked the flashlight through a loophole in her jeans, not willing to set Henry down for even a moment. Once her hand was free she seized the shop handle and jerked it towards her violently. She was rewarded with deep "chunk" as the door held fast either locked or stuck. "_Guess it doesn't matter which…I'm still not getting in, _" she thought sourly. As she stepped backed something made a small clank against the pale gray concrete at her feet. 

She grabbed her flashlight and pointed it downward. She spotted a small bottle, no bigger than a can of soup. She squatted down and gentle picked up the bottle while reading its label. "Pro-Gene Energy Drink…"

She turned to read the label and nutrition facts but conveniently it had been rubbed off. She heaved a disgusted sigh and brushed a single curl back from her face. "It figures…" she muttered and stood up, still holding the drink in her hand. "_Still, it's not like I should knock it. I'm going to need food and drink at some point… _" She thought, although the thought of eating and drinking anything from this town made her a little uneasy. What if the people had perished from some sort of disease that was transmitted through food and drink? 

"_Way to think happy thoughts there Leah…"_

She quickly pocketed the bottle and brushed the thoughts aside. Something about that scenario felt unlikely and besides that the bottle had remained un-opened. 

Footsteps.

Leah turned with the reflexes of a cat and shone her flashlight. "Hello?!"

She trotted forward a bit, stepping out of the doorway of the drugstore and more towards the street. The beam of her flashlight scanned from left to right and back again, as her eyes and ears stayed alert. "Is somebody out there?!" she called once more, trying to keep her voice fairly confident.

More footsteps.

"Hello?! ANYONE!?" she called, trying to follow the sound with her hearing and jogging out onto the street. Her breath caught in her lungs. Something extremely emaciated seemed to dangle along the street in a twitchy sort of dance. A long, gangly skeletal-looking figure. Something that was so perversely shaped that it defied the law of existence. Leah felt a lump of fear rise up in her throat and her hand trembled as she shone the flashlight up ahead. The minute the light doused the figure she felt relief and confusion wash over her at the same time. There stood the little girl, looking alarmed as ever.

Leah gave a huge sigh and began to walk over. "Oh thank God! You know, you really gave me a scare!" Leah said, forcing herself to give a weak little laugh because apart of her wanted to strangle the girl for scaring her half to death.

The little girl backed up once, her big, brown eyes never once leaving Leah, then turned and began to run.

"Hey…HEY WAIT!" Leah called out while taking chase as best as she could though the stick weighed her down and slowed her pace slightly. "WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GOING!!!?"

Leah urged her legs to keep running. Her boots pounded the pavement roughly as she gave chase. Her eyesight stayed fixed on the little girl but the kid was fast. It was almost as thought the fog was working against her by swallowing up the girl's outline. "No…no!" Leah called out and felt her legs burst with a last ounce of speed. "WAIT! I'm **_NOT_** going to hurt you!!" 

All at once it was if the street lined stores had vanished and all that remained was the black sky and the road ahead of her, the fog and the sound of children's footsteps until all of a sudden Leah felt her legs go out from beneath her.

She felt the weight of her body tumble forward and there was no way to stop it. She connected with the cold pavement, something jabbing her in the stomach, under her rib. The wind in her lungs left her and she cried out briefly, both the flashlight and the stick flying from her hands which smacked down hard on the cement. She winced but then realized the absence of the feel of the rough bark of the stick in her hands. She momentarily panicked then scrambled up, snatching the stick up like it was a precious jewel. Her eyes darted around until she spotted the flashlight and grabbed that as well. She looked it over and she muttered a soft thanks to God that the impact of the flashlight against the pavement hadn't caused it to short out.

Leah's face winced once more, still panting, and gulped in a gasp of air but felt a twinge of pain where she'd been jabbed as she fell. She looks back to see two small concrete steps. "So that's what it was…" she hissed through gritted teeth and then looked ahead of her. A building loomed over her like a monster sizing up its prey.

The big, iron bold letters out front read: "Lakeview Middle School"

            A/N: Okay the hint for the little hidden message in the note in chapter 3 is this: Pay attention to the capital letters. ;)

Thanks Wrath for your review. I hope I still managed to keep the Silent Hill atmosphere.


	4. School Day

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Four: **School Day**

The doors opened like a mouth welcoming prey and Leah couldn't suppress a shudder than ran down her spine as her hand connected with the cool metal bar of the heavy weight door. She stepped inside and sniffed the air. It smelled slightly musty and Leah guessed it must've an older school, not newly built or anything. Navy blue carpeting scuffed against the bottom of her black boots. The school itself was fairly modern but nothing fancy by anyone's standards. She glanced around. There was a hall leading right past three rows of lockers, an office and a hall leading left which she could see led to the darkened gymnasium. Ahead of her, past the office were doors with small panels of narrow, vertical glass but the space within was too dark to make out what room it could be. Leah strained her ears to listen for any sounds.

            Like the rest of the town, the halls were haunted with the sound of silence. 

            Leah made her way towards the office, which was close to the entrance and visible by the glass windows, which surrounded its outer perimeter. She shone her flashlight ahead but it beamed off the glass indicating only that she was going to have to get in closer for a look inside.

            Leah peered into the window and saw cluttered desks and in the far back a nurses' office, nothing particularly useful but she found the idea amusing that the kids would've had to go through the tough guys on staff to get to the nurse. A small little smile played across her face, the first all night.

            She stepped off to the right and tried the door, setting the stick to the side for only a moment. To her surprise the pine door opened easily with only the sound of the bottom sliding across the navy carpet. She hurriedly grabbed the stick and continued on. Once inside she could see the normal every day items that weren't out of place. One desk had two piles of papers, a calendar, and a coffee mug which said, "Drink Me." Then Leah spotted just what she'd been hoping for. A black, wire cord phone sat neatly on the edge of the desk opposite the coffee mug desk.

            Leah's hand eagerly seized the phone and picked it up, wasting no time in jamming in the numbers for 911. 

            Silence.

            "Hello?!… Anyone?!"

            She hit the receiver a few times and silence still accompanied her. "Shit!" she cursed and threw the phone back down on the receiver. She missed and the phone bounced off then banged the side of the desk and proceeded to swing back and forth to an invisible rhythm. Leah set the flashlight on the desk and ran a hand through the front of her hair, pushing it away from her face while fighting off tears of frustration.

            "_Relax. Relax… that's just one phone…there may be another. Or maybe even a cell phone_," her mind rationed. Leah sniffled slightly and grabbed the flashlight once more, prepared to head out until something caught her eye.

            Her heart froze momentarily but her legs drew her closer to the item on the desk. On a desk, a bit further back was the same symbol seen at the altar. It was as if someone had just slapped it over the desk. It was drawn over papers and nothing under it had been fussed with in the process. This time, it indeed glowed red. 

            Leah stared at it for a long time and suddenly felt her legs backing up at the speed of light. "_No. Not that again…not again…not again…_ "

            She once more fixed the flashlight into the loop of her pants and threw the door open, nearly throwing herself back into the hall. She fought the urge to retch. Something about that symbol made her sick. It turned her stomach to sludge just looking at it. 

            "_This is a **school**. Just what the **fuck** is something like that doing in a **SCHOOL**!?_" 

            Leah took a moment to catch her breath and swallow, trying to calm the rising wave of fear that was threatening to overtake her.

            "Leah…? Don't you remember?"

            "Who's there?!" Leah demanded, looking up with wide, fearful eyes. The small, childish voice had caught her off guard and caused her heart to race a thousand miles within her chest. Before her stood the little girl. Both locked gazes and stared back at one another.

            "_Her again…_ " The little girl stood there as still as a doll, arms at her side, staring.

            Leah took a cautiously step forward as if approaching a deer that would flee at the softest noise. "Who…are you…?" Leah asked softly, suddenly feeling oddly suspicious of the young child. The little girl stared at her, but not with fear: with contempt.

            "_Those sick symbols_, **_her_**_…what does this all mean?_" her mind wondered. "_And the voice I heard before, that wasn't her. It was a little boy's…_"

            "Is someone else here?" Leah tried again, trying to keep her voice even. The girl responded by staring some more. "_Why won't she answer me?! Is she mute or something?!_" Leah's mind screamed. She felt anger heat the blood in her veins. "Look, I don't know who you are but I want answers," Leah said firmly, feeling the tension and acid rise slowly in her voice like a volcano. The girl didn't seem phased. Her glassy brown eyes gave no indication that she was even vaguely aware of Leah's crumbling patience.

            "_NOW_!!!" Leah screamed. The girl shook her head with her brown hair brushing against her cheeks and then turned and promptly jogged off down the gymnasium hallway. 

            "DAMNIT!!!" Leah cried before being forced to give chase once more. This time Leah felt a peed burn within her legs that she'd never before thought she could manage. Past the gymnasium, down the hall, open a door, pass lockers: a locker room. Leah hardly noticed. Her mind wasn't functioning. All that was left was the girl.

            "_Going to get her…answers… get her…_"

            Past stagnant, lonely showers. Through another door and then… pool. 

            Leah's boots skidded to a halt and she nearly found herself plunging face first into dark, stale water. Leah fell to one knee, feeling the force of the stench impregnate her nostrils until she was sure she'd be sick. Leah coughed and winced, backing away from the pool's edge while still on one knee. "Oh…my…"she trailed off in disgust. Her eyes lifted and ahead of her, at the other side of the pool she saw the girl. Her eyes locked on Leah as they always were.

            Leah was about to ask just what the hell the girl wanted before she saw the girl plunge forward into the murky waters ahead of her, not once moving from her standing position, frozen like an ice statue. "NO!" Leah screamed and forced herself up, running around the side of the pool to where the girl had splashed in.

            It was a mistake. 

            The moment she leaned forward to try and find any trace of the girl, she heard a terrible squeak and felt the all too familiar feeling of her feet leaving the ground. Skull cracking pain gripped her only momentarily as the front of her forehead connected with the square tiling of the pool's edge. She uttered something that was a mix of a groan and a whimper. Her vision wavered like a lava lamp and no thoughts would enter her mind. There was just pain. White hot pain and…sirens. 

Sirens in the distance. 

Leah tried to lift her head but the feeling of dizziness and pain crushed her like a wall coming down. 

            And then it was black.

A/N: You know what those sirens mean J

Reviews please. Lemme know how this is going.

As a side note: I wrote this listening to the SH1 music "Hear Nothing." It's great atmospheric music for reading this chapter or even if you write your own SH stories. I really recommend listening to it, especially if you're in the dark.


	5. An Alternate Abyss Part One

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Five: **An Alternate Abyss (Part One)**

"**_I'm dreaming…I'm in a dream…_**_"_

Only moments had passed since Leah had awoken but it now felt like an eternity as she took in her surroundings. All around her was a changed place, someplace different from where she had fallen unconscious.

            Yet, it was the very same swimming pool within the very same middle school.

            The pool's water was still a deep, murky brown and stale but now it was as though the brown muck from the water had splashed upon every square inch of the room. The small white ceramic tiles that composed the pool's floor were brown, corroded and dirty. The walls were fixed with spatters and cobwebs of brown, caked on crust. The two windows, which Leah had almost missed, were now pitch black and speckled with rust. She forced herself up and winced, as every step seemed to echo within her sore skull and make it throb with pain. Slowly she approached the window, one hand out to touch what seemed like fantasy and make it into reality. Her hand brushed against the window's pane. It was rough and craggy like the side of a rock, but at the same time it's physical appearance was pure, smoothed black. 

            _Splash_.

            Leah felt her body give a little jump with her heart. Her head pounded unkindly from the little surprise and her eyes scanned the room fearfully and slow. Apart of her wanted to shut them tight like a child would and curl up and hide until it all "went away." An even bigger part of her didn't want to know just exactly _what_ had made the splash.

            Leah clutched the stick in her hand and the flashlight as well, briefly remembering just how thankful she'd been when she had realized that the stick and the flashlight were still with her. She stepped towards the pool and as she did she heard a brief scuffling of footsteps coming from the bleachers that were posted above the pool, in an alcove, guarded by a rusted metal railing. The railing didn't exactly look like it'd have stopped anyone from going over. In fact, it looked more like it'd had given way if someone merely _leaned_ on it. Even more odd, was that the bleachers themselves seemed to be composed of iron mesh fence. "_Comfy…_" she thought. The mere sight of something so twisted did nothing to make her feel comforted. In fact the whole place made her flesh writhe. It was as though someone had taken the poolroom and turned it inside out, exposing it's sick, diseased underside. 

            Then something caught her eye that made her blood freeze and her heart stop. Below the bleachers, on the sidewall of the pool was blood. Lots of blood.

            Leah's chest tightened up and suddenly breathing became a great obstacle. Her legs didn't want to move though she mentally willed them to go over and check the hideous sight out. "_No…no…no…no…_" her mind repeated. Finally her legs moved, though at a slow, cautious pace.

            The marks were a mad flurry of up and down movements with only a few streaked handprints visible. Leah felt dread carry her as she realized that she was looking at the sign of a struggle and a particularly violent one at that. 

            _Splash_.****

            Leah gave a loud gasp and turned slowly around, looking at the waters' edge. It bounced and rippled lightly. Something had disturbed it.

            "_The little girl…_"

            Realization claimed her. Why hadn't she thought of that before? If she was here, perhaps so was the little girl. Perhaps the handprints belonged to her. "_That little bitch has the answers…I know it…_" Leah thought acidly and despite the fear that was coursing through every inch of her body, she felt herself become considerably angry. Why wouldn't she just go away? If she had never followed the girl to begin with she may not have even been in this situation. "_Well is that her fault or yours?_" another side of her mind argued.

            Splash.

            It was closer this time.

            Leah shone the light towards the pool, but to her surprise she found her hand was shaking beyond her control. The beam of light jiggled nervously up and down and she swallowed, forcing a lump of cold fear down her throat. "_Something…in the pool…_"

            It didn't _feel_ right. She pinned down what exactly had been plaguing her. The whole place didn't feel right. It was the feeling you get when you're alone but you know someone's gaze is burrowing into the back of your spine. "_That feeling,_" she thought dreadfully. She momentarily closed her eyes, feeling the lump of fear turn to full on nauseating panic in her stomach.

            "_I'm in a dream…_"

            Splash.

            Leah's eyes snapped open and looked down at the pool near her feet. Little droplets and speckles of blood dotted the dirty and abused tile beneath her by the pool's edge. Leah slowly dropped to her knees and set the flashlight aside. With no real conscious thought, just pure fear within her mind, she reached a hand out to touch the water's wavering surface. Her fingertips just skimmed below the water's surface before pulling back. 

            Her fingertips were coated in a thick sheen of red blood. A small droplet began to run in the crook between her index finger and middle finger.

            Leah felt her last ounce of nerve shatter.

            A heavy gasp of horror escaped her mouth and she seized her flashlight, scrambling back from the pool with no time to waste. Her heart hammered into her rib cage and getting ample amounts of air to her lungs seemed impossible. Her eyes were frozen to the surface of the pool of blood. It wavered and sloshed lazily against the sides. "Oh god…oh…oh…"

            "_I'm dreaming. I'm in a dream. I'm dreaming. I'm in a dream._"

            Leah closed her eyes and felt her body shudder before she fully came to realize that she was crying. Short quakes of sobs and broken breathing filled her ears. "_I don't wanna be here…I don't wanna be alone…I didn't do anything…anything…didn't do it…I don't wanna be here. Dont', don't. Didn't do it…_"

            Her lips pulled back from her teeth as her face contorted with fear and pain.

            "I don't wanna be alone…I can't…don't wanna…"

            "_Shhhhhhhh…_"

            The sound made Leah jump with a little whimper that was choked up by tears. She practically hugged the stick to her. Her poorly balanced hand, so overcome by shaking that was impossible to work her fingers to hold around the flashlight's base, raised a beam of light towards the doorway.

            "_Shhhhhhhh…_"

            Leah swallowed many times, more sobs heaving in her chest before slowly standing. Though paralyzed with fear, her mind still managed to produce one thought: "_Safe…_"

The sound didn't strike her as otherworldly or even threatening. It was one she'd heard before, many times before. She gave a deep sniffle and tried to think. Where…? Where had it been? Her mind remembered driving, late night with only the blackness on the outside road as her companion. She remembered feeling the smooth, little bumps of the road beneath her car. The feel of the strong leather steering wheel beneath her palms, slightly sweaty from gripping it so hard. Reaching out to turn a dial.

            "Radio…" she muttered, licking her lips and coming back to reality. To her surprise, she had moved from her spot on the floor to the doorway, now facing into the dark locker room. The noise became louder and more prominent and Leah found herself jogging towards it, not looking into the hellish decorating of the locker room for fear that her legs would lose confidence and she'd be so overcome by fear that she'd just shut down.

            "_Shhhhhhh…_"

            Leah brought herself to stand in front of a long, narrow locker. Conveniently its door had been left slightly ajar. Leah managed to spare two fingers from the stick and grip the handle with them enough to quickly yank it open.

            Inside, among a haven of rust shavings and what looked like mineral growth in the locker, was a small, rectangular copper shaded radio. At its right end was a small, cloth knitted handle, which looked more like a string with a clip on the end. The opposite end had a small antenna that hung loosely and Leah briefly thought it broken. She grabbed the radio, slipping her flashlight back into the loop of her pants. She picked it up and her eyes began to scan its golden brown surface. Her fingers fiddled with the small tuning dial on it's side but the only thing she succeeded in doing was making it louder. She winced slightly and turned the dial but the volume didn't adjust properly. She cursed very softly under her breath and began to work with the antenna. "Come on," she muttered frustrated, forgetting her tears and even the mounting fear that had consumed her moments ago. Finally she turned to just hitting the square box of static against her hand a couple of times. 

            "It's broken," she said, crest-fallen. Leah readied to throw the radio back into the stingy locker until a noise perked the sense of her ears. 

            Shuffling. It was the deliberate shuffling of long, slow, and drawn out footsteps. Leah held her breath and turned slowly, the beam of the flashlight following. The spotlight dawned on its horrible feature and Leah felt her skin prickle with goose bumps.

            Leah's mind went blank for no words could describe the nightmarish abomination in front of her. Her eyes scanned it over in horror and yet seemed to draw back to its head. It was a body of a human: Arms, waist, legs but all wrong.  The head was a jumbled mass of flesh, pretzeled into a sickly grotesque sort of heart shape. For what she supposed could've been its eyes (had it truly been human) were gaping, open mouths turned sideways. It's entire body was twisted around in a bizarre fashion as if someone had taken it with their hands and wrung it around similarly to the way one wrings the water out of cloth. It's hip was twisted so that the right leg crossed over and became it's left. The left circled around back and became the right and it walked with a macabre shuffle as though it was struggling with itself. Its arms were twisted in a similar fashion though the arms themselves looked boneless, waggling like snakes in a slow, sickly manner. A heavy membrane coated the under arm across the armpit and to the side of it's body, making it so that its arms couldn't stretch far. The hands were curved into talons of skin. Each wrist was adorned with iron chains, the right wrist's chains longer than the left so that they dragged and shuffled against the floor's surface. With each, mangled step the hellish being took the radio grew louder until it was almost deafening. 

            Leah stepped back until her backside connected with the solid paneling of the lockers behind her. The thing shook its head slowly from side to side as if pitying her for stepping into its path. It then began to amble towards her with renewed vigor. A hand swiped out as best as it could in it's mangled position and Leah screamed, feeling her body jump with her heart. Instinct took over and she jabbed the pointed end of the stick at the figure, wincing as she felt the end make a soft impact with the thing's flesh. The thing gave out a sound that sounded like a garbled scream except that it was muffled as though invisible hands were over its mouths. Leah momentarily felt a pang of hideous guilt. She had never killed anything in her life, save maybe an ant. A small tear slipped down her face but she stepped forward and struck again, hearing a sick rip of flesh. Her hands controlled themselves as she gave a direct following jab. Blood speckled to the floor like raindrops and she stabbed again, thrusting her hips into it. There was a clatter as her flashlight fell to the floor and the lack of light caused Leah's stabs to become more frenzied. Before she knew it the thing was bleeding from deep holes within it's body where chunks of flesh and inner organ had been punched in from the stick. Leah stared and the creature slowly dropped to its knees then seemed to crumple up into a pile of beaten skin. Leah stepped back and felt her grip on the stick loosen just slightly. Her eyes could not rip themselves from the mess that lie at her feet. Leah observed that the thing, now still and soundless, was bleeding out. A pool of crimson liquid flowed steadily towards her boots. She stepped back allowing her eyes a few more moments of stare time before looking down at her hands. In her left was the stick with its end painted in gore. Her right hand was clutching the radio, which was now silent. Leah shivered and looked the radio over once more before pocketing it. If it were doing what she thought it was, which was picking up signals from any creatures nearby, it'd be more than useful. Leah knelt down and scooped up her flashlight, once again slipping it securely into the loophole. She gave the creature one final glance and frowned before whispering, "I'm sorry…" and heading out of the locker room.

            A/N: This chapter came out to be so horribly long that for the reader's eyes' sake…I chopped it in half. So I apologize. Thanks for the reviews you guys. All of you, Wrath, Crapmonger, Ice and Rodarian. I hope you keep reading because it's only going to get better as from Chapter 6 it's starts building up to the good stuff (aka Leah's reason for being brought to Silent Hill). 


	6. An Alternate Abyss Part Two

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Six: **An Alternate Abyss (Part Two)**

If the pool hall had been any indication, the school itself was worse. The previously carpeted floor had turned to a soft sort of slush. Of what Leah didn't know or did she want to. The walls were a canvas of cracked paint and dirt spatters (or dried blood). Pieces of dirtied cloth hung from the walls as if growing out of it. "_It's like some sick fuck was re-decorating and forgot to finish…_" 

            So far Leah had found the door to the office locked (which was odd since it had previously been open). The door to the main area was locked (and still she had not been able to see beyond it's narrow glass windows) and finally a door, to what Leah assumed was a lecture room, locked as well. She had been busy sifting through lockers for anything that may have been of some use. Any sign of the normalcy she'd left behind when going under. So far she'd found nothing. In one locker she HAD found finger bones from some animal, scraps of old, and dirtied cloth and a backpack. Leah had kept the backpack for the simple reason that it was easier to hold things in there than over cramming her pockets. 

            She sighed and looked dubiously towards the hall that led past the lockers. "_Well…it's not like I have any choice anymore…_" she thought miserably and gathered the bit of her courage that had built up since her encounter with the thing, which she had aptly named the Bender. The hall was dark like the rest of the school and led to another area that was composed of open-ended rooms on each side. A row of desks lined the middle. "_Just a guess but I'll be willing to bet those may be classrooms…_" Leah thought sarcastically before peering inside the first one. Six long tables were set up and there was a filthy white board that Leah doubted could ever be wiped clean no matter how much the school janitor argued. The walls were littered with motivational posters like, "There's No I in Teamwork!" and others that looked as though they had been rubbed off or scribbled over. Leah noted that each classroom looked like an oversized, brown walled cubicle. As Leah went on down the hall each classroom looked pretty much the same, give or take a few tables. The teachers' desks were now rusted and old as if from centuries past. A few of the chairs were tipped over. As she moved on only one classroom in particular caught her eye. In the back, nestled in the left side of the room was a weird stand. On the stand was little chairs arranged pyramid style. The top was empty along with a spot on the bottom that had some sort of weird, fancy symbol etched into it. A tattered note lay at the bottom. Leah gingerly picked up the note, afraid it may crumble the moment she touched it from old age. Her eyes scanned the page.

            It read: "Ten little school children all learning script. Their leader towers above them forming a noble rift. Birth a God and build a Utopia from the ashes of sin. The Executioner, Valtiel and Agramon are her kin. Bring about a paradise to conquer the human hell. Rise up mother of God, teach the children well!"

            "…Executioner? Valtiel?"

            None of the names on the list made sense and Leah found herself looking around the room for any sort of clue further, but none was to be found. Her eyes briefly read over another of the room's posters. "Math… Amazing! Top of the world. Helps you now and beyond! Math Equals More!"

            "A math class…?"

            "What the hell is something about Gods and sins doing in a math class?" Leah pondered then looked back to the note. Her eyes read the names again: The Executioner, Valtiel and Agramon. The last one made her nervous for some reason. Like she had known it was important and had forgotten. "Agramon…why does that sound so familiar?" she pondered quietly to herself.

            Her eyes drifted back to the display and the two empty spaces that marred it. The space on the bottom bore the odd symbol, which still made no sense to Leah, and the one on the top didn't. She briefly glanced around the room for paper and a pen but none was to be found. She mentally cursed the school for having every nightmarish thing imaginable and yet nothing as simple as a pen and a piece of paper. 

            _Creeeeaak…_

            Leah's heart almost stopped pumping blood at the sound. After a moment, she turned hesitantly.

            The doors of an old, decrepit cabinet had swung open. Both stood straight out, like arms welcoming someone forward. Leah stood off to the side so that the only thing visible was the side of the door. She just stared, waiting for some monstrosity to step forward from the doors, but there was nothing. No sound, no movement, nothing. Her grip on the stick tightened reflexively and within her mouth, her jaw trembled slightly in dread. "_Something…opened that closet…_"

            Silence.

            She pointed the stick out in front and moved closer, feeling her heart pick up in pace with each step. Finally she stood in front of the dark door and stared at it, mentally willing something to come out and make an appearance. Finally, her other hand lashed out and slammed the door forward, back into place on the cabinet. She side-stepped and jumped in front of the cabinet, ready for anything.

            Inside the cabinet was nothing but unused shabby boxes, a few stacks of old, dingy, browned paper and other random school supplies. Leah sighed in relief and stepped away, leaning against the table. Before her heart could completely calm down, the other door of the cabinet slammed forth and Leah screamed, thrusting the stick out in front of her. What she saw sent a shiver down her spine but also gave her heart a moment to relax. In place of where the cabinet door had swung open stood a little boy. He was adorned with blonde hair and dark, grayish blue eyes and looked no older than six. For a brief, insane moment Leah wondered if perhaps he was her guardian angel. Some help sent to her through this maze of hell and constant questioning.

            "Do you remember…?" he asked gently. Leah, still taking a moment to let her heart calm itself down, shook her head. "No…no! I don't remember anything! I don't …I don't even know where HERE is! Do you have anyone with you who can help…? Who can get me out of here?" she paused and turned on the young boy. "Do you know the way out?"

            The boy tilted his head and his eyes took on a profoundly sad look, as though he was about to cry. Despite how miserable, alone and scared Leah felt, something within her wanted to just take the boy into her arms and comfort him. Tell him that'd be okay, even if she was lying. "_Not like that little girl…_" she thought bitterly.

            "You don't…remember…me…?" the little boy asked slowly and Leah suddenly felt a horrible pang of guilt. She shook her head, screwing up her features into the most sympathetic face she could manage. "No…I-I'm sorry…" 

            She kneeled down in front of the boy and looked into his eyes, which were glassy with tears. "Look, I was in an accident that caused me to lose my memory. I didn't mean to forget you and I'm sure I haven't. I just…" she trailed off then forced a little smile. "Hey…maybe if you stick with me I can find a way to get us both out of here and maybe I'll remember something. I bet it'd be a lot better than being on your own. What do you say?" Leah asked softly. The little boy looked at her then began to cry. "I…don't know why I'm here…I didn't do anything…I wasn't bad. And…and…you've forgot me…"

            "No…no I didn't. I mean I didn't mean to-" Leah tried to argue. She reached an arm out to comfort him and the boy backed away as the radio began to fizzle from within her pocket. "No! You forgot! You forgot! YOU FORGOT!" he screamed. "No! I didn't mean to! I- what did I forget?! I didn't mean to!" Leah criedi n protest, removing the radio and beating it against her hand in frustration.

            Suddenly the little boy went still, his tears stopping as though they were a faucet someone had just turned off. His blue eyes drifted upwards and he pointed one little finger towards the ceiling. Leah turned and looked and sincerely wished at that moment that she hadn't. On the ceiling above the cabinet was something that made her blood curdle within her veins. A human torso hug from the ceiling, bobbing up and down and trying to get free. It's hips disappeared into the ceiling and on it's back were strings, of Leah could only describe as veins, clinging to the ceiling and making the creature into a grotesque puppet. Its arms were splayed out to the sides until the wrists disappeared into the ceiling as well. It's faceless head hung low and jittered as if it were mid seizure. The part that sickened Leah the most was the pair of human flesh colored arms, born of it's chest that tugged and pulled need fully at the air in front of it. Leah took a single step back in complete, unspoken horror. The thing appeared to be trying to pull free of it's ceiling confine but the stringy, vein like material behind it, which Leah quickly realized looked like a hideously, misshapen and bizarre form of wings, held it in place. Suddenly the arms reached out and snatched at Leah. Leah screamed and jumped back, turning quickly. "Get out of the – "

            The boy was gone.

            "_No time,_" she thought as the arms snatched at her again and Leah ducked. The thing gargled obscenely and tugged at its confines again, twisting its body in agony. The arms made another grab for Leah, wrenching themselves downward as much as they could manage and this time seizing her hair. Leah screamed and thrust the stick upward, jabbing blinding and screaming. A hand wrapped itself around her throat. Its clamp was warm and clammy, slick with something Leah didn't even want to know about. It tightened and Leah felt her screams, along with her breathing become strained. She stabbed upward one more time and felt the thing shift violently and emit a sort of gargled scream but it's grip tightened. Leah saw her vision begin to black out and then come back and then black out again. "_Going…to die…can't breathe…air…air…air…air…_"

            Leah kicked her legs and her brain barely made the connection that she had been lifted off the ground. Kicking nothing…kicking air. "_Air…air…**AIR**!_" he mind screamed as her mouth grasped the thought and tried let out a pained gasp, trying to get more of the precious life giving air. 

            "_Going to die…**AIR**…going to die…**AIR**…going to die! Die…! **Die! DIE**!_"

            _BANG! _

            The next thing Leah knew, she was feeling the grungy carpet beneath her hands and her throat was sucking in mouthfuls of stale air. Leah felt soft speckles of warmth fall on her, one landing on her hand. She lazily drew her hand closer to her face and saw that blood finely dotted the skin of her hand. She shot up, still panting and violently wiped the blood against the carpet and crawling out of the way of the hideous thing that had almost killed her. She looked up and saw the thing hanging there lifelessly. It's human arms no longer grabbed at anything, but hung forward lifelessly like a doll. Raindrops of blood pattered softly against the floor from multiple bullet holes. Leah looked over and saw a young man standing there with short cut, darker hair and a cool, blue gaze. He looked sickened and stressed as dark circles dressed his eyes. His hands were still clutching the gun outwards as he looked at Leah. "Are you okay?"

            Leah just managed a nod, feeling a cough arise within her throat. She weakly urged her legs to stand up, grabbing Henry before she did so. She leaned her back against the hard door of the cabinet and swallowed, looking back to the young man. He looked to be a bit older, though not much, she guessed late twenties or early thirties. For a moment their gazes locked and a thought struck Leah as clear as day. "_I know him…_"

            "Who are you?" she asked, beating him to the punch. The young man lowered his gun, breathing hard from an apparent adrenaline rush and nodded to her. "I was going to ask you the same thing. My name's Jon Foster."

                        Leah nodded and looked back to the thing before tearing her gaze away and feeling her the skin at her throat. "Leah…Myers…" she said slowly, then added, "And as long as you have a gun you're my new best friend…"

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews. Kolaski and rabidapricot thank you so much for your kind words. I wanted to make this very much as though it were in fact another SH game so your compliments were nice to hear. Wrath thanks as always for being a faithful reader. I hope I continue to impress you. Also I will put up pictures of the Bender and this new monster (which I call the Wall Fairy) but sadly they're just measly sketches so they may not be the greatest. Take care.****


	7. Jon Foster

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Seven: **Jon Foster**

"_So…warm…_"

Confident arms encircled Leah and she felt herself snuggle up to them unabashedly. Her own two hands came up to rest gentle atop of the arms that held her so tightly. She smiled a little and closed her eyes as the man brought his mouth towards her ear. He nuzzled her hair aside gently and whispered something. Something sweet though Leah couldn't make it out. "_Doesn't matter,_" she thought. It felt so good to just let go. To take this love and accept it.

            "_No. Can't accept it…_"

            Slowly she opened her eyes, the smile remaining on her face. "_Can't accept it. Gotta turn away…_"

            She felt a single tear slip down her face, but her smile still stayed on. "_Can't…can't…_"

            "Please…" she whispered and turned in the person's arms, bringing her lips closer to their own. "_Can't…_"

            Their lips whispered something to her again but all she heard was static –

            Leah whimpered softly as the soft, reverberating static brought her out of the sweet memory. She stared ahead of her to see Jon firing with gritted teeth at another Bender which had appeared out of thin air, or so it seemed. On instinct Leah felt herself draw closer to him. The hideous beast took more steps against the bullets but Leah averted her gaze downward. "_That was…a memory…a happy memory. I think…_"

            "Damn thing!!" Jon groaned and reloaded the gun. The thing swiped at Jon and Jon jumped back in fear, yelping and just firing the newly reloaded gun. A bullet connected with the creature's head. Specks of blood flew forward, some dotting Jon and Jon winced. The thing crumpled to a pitiful heap and Jon kicked it once more for good measure. He then turned to face Leah.

            "Hey…are you okay?"

            Leah shook her head. "Yeah…" she said, forcing a little smile though there was absolutely nothing to smile about. Jon just nodded then forced a little smile of his own. "I can see you and that stick are going to be loads of help." Leah scowled and looked down at the chunky sized stick and shrugged. "Hey…Henry here didn't do too bad with one of those things back in the locker room." Jon shook his head in disbelief. "Henry? You named the stick?"

            Leah sighed and stepped ahead of him, stepping past the fallen Bender. "It's a _very_ long story…"

            Jon eyed her then followed suit, holding up his hands, the gun as well, which was clutched in his right hand. "Whatever you say, but I suppose someone naming a stick isn't the oddest thing in these parts." Leah gave a slight scoff and smiled sardonically. "Are you kidding? You have people playing crucifixion from the ceiling. Naming a stick is suddenly looking very, very sane. Don't you think?"

            Jon checked the gun and opened the side of his brown, suede coat and nodded. "I try not to think."

            Leah eyed him suspiciously. "So don't tell me you carry all the items you find in your coat…?" Jon gave her a patronizing look. "Only my metal pipe and my chainsaw…"

            Leah chuckled and shook her head, trying in vain to stop feeling so…good. "_You're trapped in the ninth level of hell and you're **laughing**_?" her mind scolded but at the same time, Leah didn't feel so guilty. She had almost lost her mind back in the poolroom from raw fear. So what if she felt good about having someone with her? Was that such a crime given the circumstance? "_Piss off…_" Leah mentally told the scolding voice and continued on. "Any idea where we're going?"

            Jon walked up along side her, gun in one hand and shook his head. "Non…"

            Leah paused and gave him a quixotic look. "'Non?' You speak French…?" 

            Jon looked into her eyes and nodded, giving her a solid answer of "yes." Leah stared at him for a long moment afraid to move for fear that it would disturb the fragile course of thinking her mind had fallen into. "_The memory…_"

            She recalled the warmth of his arms, his lips pressed against her hair and whispering. "_French, that's why I couldn't understand what he was saying…_"

"Jon," she said softly, her eyes widening for a moment. Jon gave her an encouraging smile and walked on ahead. "Any idea how to get out of here?" he asked.

            And then the memory was fuzzy once more. Leah closed her eyes and tried to concentrate but it wouldn't come back. She felt a pang of anger and frustration. "_Why can't I remember this?!_" At her sides, her hands clenched into tight fists and trembled ever so slightly. "Hey?" Jon interrupted and with that Leah allowed her shoulders to slump and gave in. "I…don't…" she trailed off then suddenly looked straight at him. "Wait! I remembered. In that room back there with the weird wall person, you know? I saw some sort of-" she struggled with her words, trying to form them through hand gestures. "I don't know! It looked like some sort of weird display. It had all these little chairs but two were missing. One spot had this weird sort of symbol and I can't remember it off the top of my head, but if I saw it I'd know!"

            Jon looked at her strangely then shrugged. "Remembering things isn't exactly your area of expertise, is it?"

            "Huh?" she asked, suddenly captivated. How had he known? Suddenly the image of the little boy came back to her. "_You forgot me…_" his voice echoed within her mind. "Hey…hey wait! Jon!" she called out, jogging up to him and reaching out to grab his arm. He turned before she could do so and looked at her questioningly. Leah felt herself hesitate then plunged forward with her question. "Have you seen a little boy running around here?"

            Jon tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "I think so. He has short blonde hair and blue eyes…? You've seen him too?" 

Leah nodded.

            "Yeah, before that…that _thing_ attacked me. Then he was just…gone. Like he had never been there."

            "Yeah I know about him. I've been trying to find him. It's why I'm here," Jon confessed, turning away. Leah couldn't read his expression but she probed further. "Are you his father?"

            Jon shook his head. "I don't know. I just…I just know he's important."

            Leah watched him in silence for a moment. There had been something in the tone of his voice that hadn't sounded entirely honest. After a moment had passed she asked her final question. "Do you remember _me_…?"

            There was a long air of silence before Jon finally answered. "No," he said simply then turned to face her. His emotion was unreadable to her and Leah suspected that was the way he'd wanted it. "What about you Leah? Why are you here?" 

            The question stung Leah in her heart and brought up a fresh wave of frustration. "I don't know…I…wish I did. I don't _think_ I've done anything wrong or anything to deserve being here, but I don't know. I … can't remember," she confessed, averting her eyes away from him and putting her fingers to her temple, as though trying to remember. "I got in a bad car accident and from there I couldn't remember anything, save my name and age. I can't even remember WHY I was driving so late." Jon watched her and his silence urged her to continue. "I survived the crash…I think, but then there was this little girl and I followed her. I thought she'd lead me to help of some sort, but she led me here…" she explained, not bothering to detain the small note of bitterness in her voice.

            "_No she didn't, you came into this God forsaken town yourself_," her mind shot back. Leah ignored it. "So you're looking for a little girl," Jon said posing his words as more of a statement rather than a question. "Is she your daughter…?" he asked, turning her earlier question she had asked him back on her. The question struck Leah in an odd way. She had never honestly considered that. Was she her daughter? Had she had someone in the driver's seat beside her? "_I just **CAN'T REMEMBER**!_" her mind screamed. Leah closed her eyes once more and gave a weary sigh. "I …can't remember. I suppose she could be and I wouldn't even know right now."

            "Well that…sucks…"

            Leah looked up at Jon, into his eyes and found she was smiling. "Yeah…yeah it _does_ suck." Jon gave her a reassuring smile and began to walk further ahead. Leah felt her smile melt from her mouth and bothersome thoughts pervade her mind. "_What if…she is my daughter? How could I have forgotten…?_"

            "Come on!" Jon called from up ahead and Leah snapped out of her gloom ridden thoughts and nodded, jogging ahead to catch up with him in the long hallway that lead to another area of cubicle-like classrooms. Leah glanced over and something caught her eye. She mentally cursed herself for missing it before, though upon closer inspection it didn't exactly look accessible. In the middle of the large room, to the left of the hall and embraced by darkness, was what appeared to be a fairly small library encaged by wire mesh. Inside Leah could see bookshelves filled with dark, grimy books. The wire mesh fell over the library like a blanket with only a single, stained brown door bearing entrance. Leah ran over, jogging down metal stairs and called to Jon. "Hey! Get over here!" Her feet stopped once she reached the bottom and her mouth opened slightly in confusion. 

            "What the …" Jon's voice trailed off, following her gaze as he stepped up beside her. The pair stared at the floor of the library. Beneath the bookshelves was wire fencing for floor and below that was nothing. A black abyss opened its mouth, posing as the floor of the library. Leah pressed against the wire mesh and tried to get a better look down. It went forever and Leah imagined that it was probably endless. Inside the library were chains dangling from the wire ceiling like sick ornaments. They were dead still and Leah thanked God for that. 

            "'Feed blood to the name of your savior so that he may taste your sins.'"

            "_What!_?" Leah asked disgustedly, looking to Jon for an answer. Jon shrugged and pointed. "Says that here on the door." Leah examined the door and read the words to her self then glanced down. Beneath the inscription was a dirtied, iron plaque that wasn't at all attractive. However it _was_ blank. Leah ran her finger over the edge and winced. "Ow! Damnit!!" 

            "What?" Jon asked. Leah held her finger out, which bore a small cut from the sharp edge of the plaque. "Just a cut. I'm fine," she muttered, readying to raise her finger to her mouth to clean off the blood. She paused as the words' meaning dawned on her. "'Feed blood to the name-' a name. A name is suppose to be written here in … blood?" she questioned, looking unsurely to the plaque. Jon eyed her then the plaque. "…Okay…assuming that's right, what's the name?"

            "I don't know," Leah confessed. It could've been anything. "How about 'Xellotath'? That's nice and evil sounding," Jon suggested. Leah shot him a stern look and muttered, searching her brain for anything. 

            "_Agramon…_" a nameless voice whispered within the confines of her skull.

            "_Yes! Yes! That name!_"

            "Agramon…" she whispered and began to write the name with her finger. "Agramon?" Jon asked, watching her write the name. "Who's that?"

            "No idea but I saw it on that weird display back there."

            As Leah finished the blood began to ripple and squirm, as though it were alive. The sight sent waves of ice across Leah's skin and it made her stomach turn. Then with a soft "click," the door was unlocked. Leah exchanged a short glance with Jon before grasping the handle and slowly turned it to push open the door. 

            With slow deliberate steps Leah stepped into the library. The books appeared normal all dulled different colors. They wore a fine coat of dust and Leah's eyes just browsed the spines of the books. Hear ears picked up the sounds of Jon's footsteps across the wire metal flooring. Then she spotted what was amiss. 

            "The titles on all of these books are scratched off," Jon observed.

            "Yeah," she muttered, running a finger over a book's spine. Sure enough, the small letters that had been printed upon its spine were missing, having appeared to have been erased or scratched away. 

            "Weird…" Jon said softly, loud enough for Leah to pick it up. Leah just allowed her eyes to run along the rows of books, all of who bore the same marks where their spine titles would be. "Yeah, no kidding," she said softly in response. "No I mean, I found something," Jon corrected and Leah turned around to see him holding a book. "Check this out, it's some sort of … I don't know, a diary think. Come look for your self," he said, holding the opened book out to her. Leah approached and gingerly took the book, setting the stick down. Its appearance was fairly old and the pages were a slight vanilla color. Oddly enough, as old as the book was, it smelled of roses or some other flower. Leah breathed it in and felt her nerves calm, it was very familiar to her. Her eyes searched the writing and she found that the entry only covered half of the page, scrawled in blank ink. It looked as though it had been written in a hurry.  Leah read aloud. 

            "The town is changing. It's becoming … something else. I'm not safe here. Not now. He had to die. He _HAD TO_! He was changing with the town! I didn't even know him anymore. Everything he used to believe in, all gone. He _wasn't_ thinking right. He had to die. I **_had_** to kill him. And now I need to leave. I'll come back of course. This town will call me back, just like it will call her back one-day. This town feeds off secrets and sins, I should know. Every human being bears a secret, like some sort of scar one  tries to hide beneath their clothes. Some secrets are just darker than others are. I can see those secrets and this town feeds off them. It will change but it will not die. The true essence of this town will never be vanquished. It will bring those back who try and escape. I know this … no I _feel_ this. I have to go now. I must hurry."

            Leah stared at the entry, somehow feeling moved. Her eyes stared at the very last word and she said nothing. Jon, who had been looking at the entry over her shoulder, stirred her from her silence. "Is that all of it? That's it?" Leah shook her head and turned the pages. Oddly, they were all blank. Her hands turned the pages back looking for entries that would've been written prior to the first she had read, but none were to be found. "I guess that's it. Doesn't make much sense though. Who makes an entry in the middle of a journal and just stops?"

            "Some crackpot living in this town?"

            Leah briefly thought back to the note she'd found accompanied with the stick, Henry. "Crackpots…" she whispered and looked over to Jon, then back to the book. Leah went to close it until something slipped out and fluttered to the floor. She kneeled down and looked at the object that had fallen, still holding the diary in one hand. On the floor was what appeared to be a small note. "Something…" she said and picked up the note, reading aloud once more. "Turn around," she said softly, reading the thick, black penned letters. Leah stood up and turned to look at the bookshelf she had just been browsing. Wedged in a space between two books was a small figure that had not been there before. Leah stepped closer and examined it, grimacing. The figure appeared to be crudely molded of clay but even with the piss-poor mold job, Leah could make out a body with no face. Sprouting from its chest was another body that looked like a human being screaming in pain. Coming forth from the second body, hung a third lifelessly with its arms hanging down. All three were combined into one body. Leah gingerly picked it up and examined it further. Etched into its back was a symbol and Leah immediately made a connection. "I've seen this…in that classroom," she said aloud. "The one with that weird pyramid display."

            "Ohhh I get it," Jon said, gently taking the piece from her hand. Leah removed her small backpack and placed the book they'd found inside of it. "Someone's cute idea of a puzzle. Well that's just peachy," he said sarcastically and handed her back the figure. Leah eyed it once more then shuddered and placed it into her backpack as well. "Guess I know where we're heading. I hope this doesn't become a pattern. This back and forth trekking bullshit," Jon muttered. Leah nodded and led the way, grabbing the stick once more before she left. It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the classroom again. Once there, Leah removed her backpack again and retrieved the small figure. She set it into the spot on the display with the odd symbol, being rewarded with a perfect fit and a small click. A little tune began to play that sounded like a bizarre cross between a child's lullaby and a funeral hymn. From the top, the empty space opened and a chair rose up. The chair was more throne-like and weirder yet it was tarnished in a dark brown substance that Leah suspected was blood. On the throne sat a key. Once the music stopped and the chair had revealed itself fully, Leah plucked the key up. She eyed it but nothing weird came of it. It appeared to be a normal, brass key. "I think I know where this key works…"

            "How in the hell would you know that? It could work anywhere," Jon said, looking a bit disbelieving. Leah turned around and looked into his eyes. "Look, just call it a guess then! If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and he can come back here and waste our time searching this stupid place. I just – " she took a deep breath in, calming herself down. "I just have a feeling…humor me, alright?"

Jon heaved a sigh and nodded, making a motion for her to lead the way. "So just where is this hunch of your leading us?"

            "I'm not sure, but when I came in here I saw these big sets of doors kinda by the office."

            "The lunchroom?" Jon asked curiously. Leah stopped and turned on him. "Care to enlighten me on _how_ you know what room that was?" Jon shrugged lightly. "I saw an old map back in that classroom." Leah stared at him for a long moment then didn't try to hide the venom in her voice. "And you didn't think for a moment, 'Hey! That might be useful!'" Jon held up his hand and smirked, a gesture that made Leah feel all the surlier with him. "Hey, relax. A lot of it was unreadable and besides, most of the hallways in this place are blocked off. I've already looked." Leah didn't respond and her look of annoyance to Jon didn't soften but she left it alone. For now, they had a destination and a goal. If the key didn't work where she suspected then she decided she would badger him about going back for the map. For time being, Leah just did as Jon suggested and led the way back towards the entrance where the lunchroom doors awaited. All the while, with each step, Leah couldn't help but feel more and more sick. The sound of the sirens she'd heard before passing out haunted her memories and suddenly she wasn't so sure that she wanted to know what was behind those doors, but all the same, her feet carried her and Jon closer to their destination.

**A/N**: Sorry this chapter was so darn long. That's part of the reason it took me so long to post (apologize for that too). Thanks as always to those of you who continue to R&R.I really, really appreciate it. Thanks Justin for your review, I'm enjoying your story as well at the moment. I'm realizing that this story is sounding a bit like SH1 but keep reading. I promise it will take a very different road soon. Also for some really strange reason that's pissing me off, FF.net won't allow me to post this chapter with the link to the wall fairy picture, so to see it just click my pen name and the link should be on there. Take care.


	8. Losing Time

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Eight: **Losing Time**

Footsteps clamored down the empty hall. Leah's mind raced and she struggled to pull up the memory, like one searching furiously through a jumbled file drawer. Before her was a seemingly endless hall with no light up ahead. Strips of bloodied cloth danced in the invisible wind as she ran, and the walls flew past her like a highway from a car window. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, her matted curls brushing against her face. "_No can't look! Can't, can't, can't! Keep running!_"

            "Jon!!?" she called out in desperation. Where had he gone? What had happened? "_What? What…what…WHAT?!! **FUCK**! Remember! Remember! **Think**_!" her mind screamed. 

            Like cuts from an old black and white movie, images pervaded her mind. Jon held her close, his arms encircling her from behind and the look of bliss upon his face was something one would've never thought imaginable. 

            "Jon…"

            Another memory came to her, one of him on top of her, kissing sensuously down her neck, taking his time and breathing her in. 

            "Jon…" Leah stopped in her tracks and put the palms of her hand against her temples, her mouth open and eyes shut in silent agony. Tears streamed down her face and she slowly shifted her hands so that they moved forward across her eyes. "Ohhh God…Jon. What …what did I…?"

            Leah whimpered and felt her legs melt away from beneath her. She slumped down amidst the darkness, feeling more lost than ever. Another flashback occurred, this time she and Jon were yelling at each other. She was crying and seemingly pleading while he just looked pained, yet angry. "So angry," she whispered. "What happened…?"

            A face. Tears. A mouth, open and screaming silent accusations. 

            A hand flying against the air. A strand of hair. Someone turned away. Leah moaned and felt her body quake. "_If only you could have. If only-_"

            "You forgot about me."

            Leah looked up, her hands slowly lowering from her face and her red, tear soaked eyes looked at the space out in front of her. She then screamed and fell back, scrambling back on her hands and feet. In front of her was the little boy she had seen before, though now he was very changed. Hideous hands reached up from within the floor, tearing away strips of flesh as though they were nothing more than stringy molding clay. He tilted his head and frowned a mangled frown. "Why…?"

            Leah opened her mouth to speak but only air passed from it. There was the sound of chain scraping and Leah then slowly closed her mouth and her eyes went wide in horror and the feeling of pure fear engulfed her. 

Behind the boy, silhouetted, stood the small girl with her stare as accusing as ever. Behind her a figure approached. Leah watched as the arms pulled down the boy, giving way like a human stage curtain to the horrific monstrosity behind it. The approaching figure was a looming mass that had to have easily topped six feet. Its head was like a human head, all flesh and no distinguishing facial features except for a mouth that appeared to have been severed open crudely with some sharp instrument. Its mouth was a gaping black abyss within itself, but no smile wrought its way upon its lips. It stared, eyeless, at Leah and Leah then put a hand to her mouth in silent realization; it was the statue she'd seen before, minus one body. From its lower chest crudely protruded a human body, stopping at the waist. The human appeared to be covered by a thick, dark, membrane and it screamed horrible, long drawn out moans of despair. It's arms flailed about the figure and Leah then realized it was chained. Heavy, burdensome chains dug at the flesh around the wrists and the chains connected to a cruel, iron collar around it's neck, tight and making it impossible for the being to move its arms too much further. The being appeared still for a moment, breathing heavily so that the membrane around it's mouth puffed in and out slightly. Then with a sudden and agonized moan it lunged as far forward for Leah as it could in a pitiful attempt to escape it's monster body prison. The thing itself stared eyeless at Leah and raised one hand. Its fingers were human like but its thumb and pointer finger was melded together by darkened flesh. It raised a single hand and pointed. Leah shook her head furiously then her voice decided to work. "No…_no_…"

            She felt her legs rise and she stumbled back only to be greeted with a wall that had not been there moments ago. Leah felt her body jump spasmodically and she then looked forward, faced now to stare at her captor. The little girl didn't move, un-phased by the monster and perhaps it was her stare that made Leah's thoughts turn hateful and angry. 

            Another flashback more painful than the last stabbed into Leah's brain. Leah screamed and dug her fingers through her hair so they pressed against the sides of her skull. 

            "Leah…?"

            She turned and gave Jon a look before they entered the tall doors to the lunchroom. "I love you, you know that right?"

            Leah felt her heart clench. How long had she known Jon? An hour if best? "_No, much longer. 8 years…_" 

            "Eight years," she whispered and felt her eyes search the floor for some sort of reasoning. Then, unexpectedly Jon approached her and put his arms carefully around her as though she were a precious china doll. "I know you can't remember me."

            "Jon –"

            "Leah, give me say…just for this moment," he whispered painfully and Leah stared at the wall behind him, just resting her own body against his embrace though not returning it. "I don't want to lose you again."

            Her eyes drifted over to him, only seeing his neck and the darker blonde hair that occupied it. "Jon, I…won't leave," she whispered. "_Liar…_"

            "Leah, no matter what happens I love you. I'll protect you."

            Leah just nodded numbly, suddenly feeling as though she was floating through a dream. "_What's real anymore? I don't know. Is this place real? Is Jon real? I can feel him, I can touch him and I can hear him, but does that all make something, someone, real?"_"

            "I don't know anymore," she whispered softly, brokenly, and buried her face against his shoulder, smelling his soft familiar scent that she just knew was him. She felt Jon hold her close and the pair stood that way for a moment before finally Leah pulled away. "Jon, we have to keep moving," she said confidently though she felt anything but. "I don't know why I feel this way, but if we stay here…" she trailed off. Jon gave her a nod of his head and put a hand against her face. "I know."

            Leah nodded a bit and looked into his eyes. She saw nothing but adoration there but within herself Leah felt nothing but guilt. "_Why?_" she questioned mentally. The mere touch of his hand was so comforting and yet so nerve jolting. Leah looked down and laughed nervously. "_Say anything_," her mind screamed. "Look, let's just keep moving. Whatever's behind that door can't be as bad as that monster playing ceiling surprise, right?"

            Jon gave her a little smile and Leah took that as a cue. She removed the key she had retrieved from the pyramid display into the classroom and fit it into the keyhole like a hand into a glove. Her hand trembled a little and Leah looked forward, struggling to see _anything_ that lurked behind the big doors through the narrow strip of glass. There was nothing, or at least nothing that could be seen. Leah then unlocked the door with a soft, "click." She didn't look back at Jon as she pushed the doors open.

            Leah screamed and screamed. She pressed her hands against her skull until she was positive she could crush her own head in and be done with it all. "STOP IT!!!!!" 

            Her voice echoed along the room and the echo brought Leah to stop screaming. She stood there, breathing heavily until finally, somewhere in her soul, she found the courage to open her eyes. She was in a lunchroom.

            The lunchroom was empty much as the rest of the school had been. Long tables with little circular seats were lain out diagonally across the room. All of the tables looked old and rotted with age and forgot. Much further across the room, past the tables, was a shutter that was composed of wire, metal fencing. It was pulled down over the window where Leah assumed that children would've gone to get their lunch had this place ever actually been a real school. 

            Nowhere to be seen was the little girl and the hideous human/monster being and Leah felt herself mentally thankful for that. It then occurred to her that Jon was nowhere to be seen either. "Jon?!" she called out, getting the distinct feeling that there would be no answer. "Where did he go…?" she whispered softly and put a hand against her chest to calm her fifty-mile per hour heart beat. She slowly walked through the aisle between two tables, approaching the meshed off window. She made an observation that there appeared to be two halls leading out of the lunchroom but both were blocked off by an odd looking wall. 

            There was a soft "shh, shh" that made Leah freeze in her steps. Her eyes darted around but her body dared not move. Her ears perked up and she strained to hear anything else but there was nothing but calm silence. Leah felt her stomach clench and only then did she realize she was missing Henry, the stick. Her panic shot up about twenty levels and Leah swallowed hard to keep tears from erupting from her eyes.  "Shh shh…"

            Her ears caught the noise the second time and this time Leah was able to detect where it had come from. Her eyes followed her ears and rested upon the wire fencing over the window. Leah stood still and watched, like a child watching their closet for fear the closet monster would come forth. Silence ensued and Leah's nerves decided she'd had enough. Leah turned to leave. "**_Nothing_**_ is worth knowing what the hell made that noise_," she thought honestly. 

As her foot took one step, the noise came once more only this time it was accompanied by a loud bang that nearly made Leah's heart stop. She turned around to see a panel of the wire had fallen. She stared at it and then where it had been. Behind the window was nothing but a lunch area where the lunches were prepared. She kept her ground and still, now more determined than before to leave the lunchroom. It was then that a horrible groan tore through the room and the static of the radio blurred alive into Leah's ears. She jumped, having almost forgotten the radio entirely. 

Leah searched for the direction from which the groan had come but it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Her eyes then caught sight of the fallen piece of fencing as it began to tremble slightly. Then suddenly something ripped forth from the floor beneath it. A human like figure, if one could call it that, shot upward, fighting against the fencing, which had now become thicker and apparently heavier. Leah watched in horror, clasping her hands over her mouth as a face formed on the being and continued to press forward against the fence. 

            Terrible visions of the creature's face being turned to gore from the force of the fence played with Leah's thoughts and Leah found that she couldn't move. The figure's groan turned into a sort of squeal as the grate-like fence actually began to mold around the figure's face. The corners slowly grew downward, digging within the flesh of the being's shoulders until the 

humanish creature had become one with the grating. It's arms then pulled forward, free of the floor and it fell forward. Leah jumped back but as she did the thing clawed furiously at the floor in an attempt to pull itself free of the floor. It succeeded and Leah then came to notice that it had no legs. It ended in a sort of mass of flesh combined to the end of a spine. It's whole body seemed to writhe like a snake's and it's arms then became a flurry of grabbing motions at it made it's way towards her. 

**A/N**: Thanks yet again to everyone who reviewed: Reverse-will, Rodarian and as always, Wrath. Glad you guys are still following this. For some reason that I cannot name I'm profoundly pleased with the chapter, yet I apologize if it's confusing. I know it leaves more than a few questions but I _will_ let you know that being you saw with the little girl? That was indeed Agramon. That being will become much, much more significant to the story as it progresses. Also, I've fixed the link to the picture so be sure and take a look. Also, one last thing (then I'll shut up), but I noticed a lot of people like to listen to SH music as they write. I do as well so I will so I'll post the pieces of music that inspired each chapter at the end (so if you want some "atmosphere" while you read, just play these tracks and they'll give you just that.) Take care!

Music Pieces:

Silent Hill 2 – Red Pyramids (Beginning/Appearance of Agramon)

Silent Hill 1 – Not Tomorrow 1 (Flashback of Jon and Leah)

Silent Hill 1 – Half Day (Appearance of Grateface monster)****


	9. Different Destinations

Silent Hill: Shadows 

Chapter Nine: **Different Destinations**

Before Leah could tear her eyes away from the horrible abomination that now barreled towards, her legs began to back up. She felt a cry of complete horror slip free past her mouth as she struggled to run backwards. In her gut, she knew she would've done better to turn and flee, but Leah could not bring herself to look away from the monster for fear it would rush up behind her. The thing let out a horrible screech and shuddered, lifting it's head up and screaming in her direction. Leah screamed and then felt her legs connect with one of the small table seats. Before she knew it, she was on her back and scrambling to be upward once more. As she lowered her hands to push herself up, her palm fell flat against something cold and hard. She only gave her eyes a moment to recognize the gun that Jon had been carrying.

"_Jon_," she thought forlornly.

Shrrp. Shrrrp.

Leah looked up to see the creature scuttle quicker towards her, its legless body brushing against the grimy carpet as it struggled to move. "_No time, no time_!" her mind screamed and in a flash, Leah was on her feet, the gun aimed. The handle of the gun was hard and cold against the warmth clamminess of her palms. The monster reared its grated head upwards and Leah could see the contours of its mouth open in a flesh scream. Tiny strings of flesh, that caused the creature to struggle just to open its jaws, conjoined its lips. Leah raised the gun, locking her arms forward. "_Don't know how to aim_," she thought fearfully.

The thing then began to crawl at her with incredible speed. Leah screamed in terror and felt her finger click on the trigger time after time after time. Each click was followed by an obscenely loud burst of noise from the gun. Leah clenched her eyes shut momentarily, finding soon enough that the darkness that lurked there scared her as well. When she opened her eyes, she saw the creature shirk back from the entourage of bullets that ripped into areas of its exposed flesh. Her ears perked up as she heard one bullet bounce off the grate blocking its face.

"Click. Click."

The sound made no impact upon Leah. Her finger continued to squeeze the trigger, even as the creature ceased. The creature stood still and finally Leah stopped firing the non-existent bullets. For a moment, Leah could've sworn the creature was looking right back at her. It tilted its head as if mimicking a human gesture that one uses upon recognizing a familiar face. The gesture sent waves of disgust and fear across Leah's skin and with a final scream, she hurled the gun directly at the being. The gun clattered roughly against the things wire encased head and the creature shook, then began to writhe miserably. Leah watched, panting heavily, as the thing began it's twisted writhe back into the hole where the wire grating had been. It took a couple of minutes for Leah's heartbeat to return to a bearable speed. For those few minutes that had past, Leah kept on guard, staring at the black hole the creature had vanished against. She half expected it to come barreling forward once more now that she was vulnerable. After a long moment of nothing, Leah felt a long suppressed sigh escape her lungs. She felt her body double over in relief and she put a hand to her stomach for fear she may have thrown up. She clenched her eyes shut and let the experience wash over and upon her. Her chest heaved as she drew in large gulps of air to calm her nerves but her gasps soon turned to dry, torrid sobs. She straightened up and felt her rage release itself like steam from a hot surface. "Not…REAL," she grunted and lashed out, her foot kicking the defenseless table beside her. A scream of complete, raw helplessness freed itself from her throat and she brought her hands to the sides of her head. "This…can't be real…"

"_It is._"

"No! No, _no,_ **no**!" she argued to herself and felt her hands drop, the gun still clutched within her palm. She looked down to it and felt a slight jolt of longing. "Jon…" she moaned. "Why do I miss him so much?" she asked sadly, lowering her self to sit upon a seat that was conjoined to the lunchroom table. She rested the empty weapon in her lap as though it was a small animal in need of care. Her eyes scanned over the gun's hard surface, taking in all the details.

"A memory of a dream," she muttered absently mindedly and found her mind drifting back. Small grainy fragments returned to her but it was as though she was reading a picture book that was foreign to her.

"JON!!"

Another piece; Jon held her securely in his arms. "I'll protect you."

"JON!", then some static. A scream violated the gentle silence and then there was firing that was frenzied and panicked. And then…

"I ran…" Leah whispered and remembered. "_That hall_," she remembered and vividly remembered the endless hallway that she had ran through. Tattered cloth wavered in an invisible wind against the black tunnel then turned to shapeless forms that only faintly resembled bodies. The bodies writhed and jerked in a passionate motion. More static fuzz pervaded Leah's ears. "_That radio_," she thought tiredly. "_That…damn radio._"

Another piece floated up from the dark waters of her mind.

"Little bitch!"

The little girl brutally fell against the brick siding of the cafeteria wall, scraping her arm as she did so. She clung to it as though it was her last line of defense. The child's brown eyes shined with large welts of tears as she faced three girls and a room full of staring eyes. One of the girls with short-cropped red hair stepped forward and slapped her roughly. "You piece of crap," she spat and Leah watched the girl flinch.

"Why don't you just go die, no one likes you –"

"She's too stupid. Don't bother," another girl said, tossing a milk carton at the girl and it exploded crudely on her pink, short sleeved shirt, drenching the girl in white liquid. Leah watched as the fragile dam holding back the girl's tears gave free. Leah glanced around and but all the other children stared like plastic mannequins frozen in place. The girls began to giggle as the girl attempted to wipe the milk from her shirt in vain. The girl, sobbing by now in little quiet gasps, didn't look at her attackers and her face was slightly red from the onrush of fresh tears.

Leah took a step forward and paused as a loud siren rang out. The girls scattered and all around her it was though a flock of birds took flight as the students stood up and emptied out of the vast room. The girl stared right at Leah with tear stained cheeks and then, like a serene painting morphing into the picture of hell itself, her face changed. Her teeth were bared in an animalistic fashion and the girl stood up, screaming soundlessly.

Leah stepped back expressionless and heard the sirens amplify. The girl moved in closer, small drops of milk splashing softly against the carpet. "I _hate_ you!"

Leah stood still as the sirens became almost deafening but at the same time caused no pain to her ears. "I don't believe!"

"Is that…you speaking?" Leah asked the girl softly. She felt her voice speak the words but their sound never actually touched her ears. "GO AWAY!!" the girl screamed, her face pure red from the force of the words. The sirens filled Leah's skull and consumed it like water filling a glass. And then she collapsed only to awaken in a completely different state. She saw white ceiling and for a moment she was tempted to believe she'd died. She lifted her head as it had lifelessly lolled backwards. Leah took note that she was still sitting at the lunch table and shook her head slightly. A weak chuckle snuck past her mouth. "_I guess I'm the only one, who would manage to fall asleep in the lunchroom from hell_," she thought miserably then glanced around. Leah was momentarily taken aback.

All around her was the same lunchroom she had apparently fallen asleep in, but now it was restored, almost wholesome. Leah winced as the muscles in her neck screamed from its previous, unnatural, position. She brought herself to stand up and heard the empty gun patter to the carpet. She hurriedly grabbed it and looked around once more, feeling as though she had a horrible hangover. "None of this –" she began, looking up at the foggy windows. "None of this feels real but…" she trailed off and looked to the gun in her hand. Having it made her feel better somehow and it was a lot better than the stick, however many times "Henry" HAD bailed her out of bad situations. She sighed and tucked it into the waistline of her jeans, fearless that it would fire since it was unloaded.

She looked towards the double, large doors that were held open now, unlike before, and beyond it she could see the office. Apart of her naively hoped that Jon would be waiting out there. Apart of her _needed_ to see his face but as her legs carried her out of the lunchroom she soon discovered she was alone as ever. The speck of hope inside of her died out as quickly as it had arrived and she cast her stare towards the office. It was the same as when she had first entered the school and now, a lot less foreboding after the abyss she'd just seen. The phone she had failed to replace on its receiver still hung, abandoned and still. She turned to look over her shoulder and saw no reason to return to any part of the school. She briefly considered still searching just to be safe, just in case Jon was within but her heart told her that he was truly gone.

A memory flashed of Jon screaming for her as his gun fell to the floor; it was brief.

"_But where was I…_?" she thought in response and looked to the doors, not completely sure what to feel. A few moments later Leah pushed the doors open and she was greeted with the same, heavy town air that had filled her lungs some time ago. She pursed her lips and looked around suddenly feeling more than lost.

"Do you always believe what your eyes see?"

Leah turned around and her mouth fell open halfway in surprise. "You –"

"Dan," the familiar, brown haired person corrected. Leah had to stop herself from rushing forward in greedy relief. "Dan, yeah…" she said softly and a small, very slight smile tugged at her lips but it quickly faded as questions stormed into her mind like a stampede. "Were you here when the school-"

"You never answered my question," Dan pointed out matter-of-factly and Leah paused for a moment, confused. "Do you always believe your eyes?" he asked, slightly annoyed at having to repeat him self. "What?" Leah asked, scrunching up her brows in confusion. Dan said nothing, awaiting her answer. Leah sighed and relaxed her features, nodding. "I…guess so."

"Guess?"

Leah looked into Dan's hazel eyes and nodded more confidently. "Yeah. You can't always trust your heart, so you have to trust the proof in front of your eyes, right?" she asked, feeling a little bit saddened. Dan looked taken back but the emotion was brief. "What do you think that means?"

Leah shook her head. "I don't know…to be honest, I'm not really sure why I say that. I wish I knew," she trailed off and silence passed between both people. "What about you?" Leah countered. "I need to know some things because not a lot makes sense to me and-" she hesitated. "I need to know something concrete. Something certain or I'm afraid I'm just going to lose it," she confessed. Dan stared into her but finally answered. "What about me?"

"Are you…" she struggled to find the right word, making a gesture with her hand. "Are you a, a … friend? Or are you in on this nightmare?"

"Like you said," Dan said, leaning to the side against a small railing that led up the school steps. "I'm not sure anymore. This place has that kind of effect on you, as I'm sure you're experiencing," he said and Leah swore she detected bitterness. "In any case, I guess I'll leave that up to you to decide."

"Great…thanks," Leah murmured to herself and her eyes looked away from Dan's. Dan straightened up and before Leah's very eyes he became dead serious. "The diary."

Leah looked back up at him, clueless momentarily. "The one you found in the school," Dan pressed and Leah remembered. She removed the backpack from her shoulders and pulled out the book she'd found with Dan. "Yeah…this. It only has one ent-"

"Doesn't matter what's in it now. There will be more there later. The pages fill up the more familiar it becomes."

Leah glanced at it then back up at Dan, suddenly looking at him as though she suspected he were hiding a knife. "How do you know _that_?"

"You'll need this too," Dan continued, ignoring her question. He stepped forward and Leah stepped back but Dan tossed something to her and Leah barely managed to catch it with her free hand. Before she could examine it Dan spoke again. "It's a map to the police station in this town."

Leah shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"I've had enough of this place. I know…that I was called here. I know there's something about me, my past maybe, in this town but I don't know…" she admitted, looking to the ground as though confessing a dirty secret. "Maybe…maybe I forgot this stuff for a reason."

Dan laughed, "That's all fine and dandy but I think you're searching for something still. Even if you somehow manage to get out of here, you'll still be searching for it."

"_Jon…_" she thought briefly.

"Go to the police station," Dan repeated and Leah's eyes fluttered down to the map.

"You need to trust your deceitful heart Leah," Dan said softly. That caught Leah's attention and she looked into his eyes once more. Dan moved past her and turned to look at her. "It's the only way you're going to get out of this town," he said, sounding a little sad. Leah watched him as he turned away and began to walk. She made no move to follow, but rather watched him until his form disappeared along the trees and into an ocean of fog that was just the sidewalk.

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who reviewed and I'm so incredibly sorry this story was on hiatus for so long. I won't make excuses but I definitely plan on finishing this story. I have it laid out, I just need to put it into words now. Also, I did some artwork of Leah. Anyone who's interested can see it here: wwwdeviantartcom/view/6634959/ Obviously, add periods where needed ;)

Also, if things are confusing in this chapter and the last, I'm sorry. Something that may help you to figure events out is that a lot of the scene jumping is Leah's memories. When I referred to "pieces" in this chapter, you can assume she's recalling a memory. I promise things will make sense by the end ;)****

Music Pieces:

Silent Hill 1 – My Heaven (Beginning/Fight with Grateface)

Silent Hill 2 – White Noiz (Leah Wakes Up in Normal School)****

Silent Hill 4 – Fortunate Sleep (Dan and Leah Talk)****


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